Big Brother: Facebook Introduces New Censorship Tools for Group Administrators
Kayla Sargent June 17th, 2021
Facebook’s censorship practices have evolved once again. The platform has decided to now extend its power to administrators of Facebook groups.
The platform said in a blog post that it has developed new tools to “empower community builders based on feedback from group admins.” However, the new tools ultimately amount to more censorship. Facebook VP of Communities, Facebook App Maria Smith said that it is “testing a new type of Moderation Alert called Conflict Alerts. This uses AI to detect and notify admins when there may be contentious or unhealthy conversations in their group, so they can take action as needed.”
The platform went even further in developing new tools to limit conversations in groups: “In situations where it may be helpful to slow down a conversation, admins can temporarily limit how often specific group members can comment, and control how often comments can be made on certain posts that admins select.”
Facebook will also rely more on artificial intelligence (AI) to take down content if the platform decides that it is needed. A Facebook spokesperson told CNN that “the company’s AI will use several signals from conversations to determine when to send a conflict alert, including comment reply times and the volume of comments on a post. He said some administrators already have keyword alerts set up that can spot topics that may lead to arguments, as well.”
Facebook will now tip off administrators when a user posts content that the platform may censor. The new policies pose major problems for free speech online.
The platform’s censorship practices have largely targeted conservatives in the past. Facebook recently decided that it may allow former President Donald Trump back on the platform after a suspension of two years. It also recently fact-checked a video from MRCTV, which the platform labeled “partly false.” Facebook even placed sharing restrictions on MRCTV’s content. Facebook’s massive push to censor conservative voices resulted in the company receiving a “D” grade in the Big Tech Report Card from the Media Research Center for the first quarter of 2021.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
MRC #FreeSpeechAmerica Reader,
Never before have a few companies had the ability to silence the entire conservative movement. Now, a handful of tech companies can censor both the people and the ideals of the right through a dangerous combination of computer programs and deliberate censorship.
This is why #FreeSpeechAmerica, a program of the MRC exists—to defend conservative speech online and expose efforts by top tech companies and their employees to silence conservative voices with Orwellian speech controls. We are part of the only organization purely dedicated to this critical mission and we need your help to fuel this fight.
Donate today to help #FreeSpeechAmerica continue its fight. $25 a month goes a long way in the fight for a free and fair media—which includes social media.
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